Despite announcing in August that the Bronx District Office of New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) would be moving in September from the Belmont section of The Bronx to its new Bronx Terminal Market location in the South Bronx, customers have been observed still showing up to the now-closed office. Eleven customers were seen at the former location in October, seemingly unaware that the department had moved premises 14 days earlier, some on spec and some with appointments.

 

On Aug. 22, the DMV officials announced on the department’s website that it would be closing the busy office located at 696 East Fordham Road at the corner of Crotona Avenue in Belmont on Friday, Sept. 26, and the new, state-of-the-art Bronx District Office of the DMV opened at 610 Exterior Street, on the sixth-floor of the Bronx Terminal Market in the South Bronx on Wednesday, Oct. 1. [Norwood News had also circulated the notice a few times from Sept. 23 onwards].

On Thursday, Sept. 18, a male DMV employee was asked for more details by Norwood News about the move. “There’s a lot of problems with this building,” he said, adding that the roof often leaked.

 

Norwood News visited the Fordham Road building on Friday, Oct. 10, and within just a few minutes, customers were observed arriving for appointments. One man pulled up in a vehicle and a woman walked up to the building, both bilingual Spanish and English speakers. After being told that the new Bronx Terminal Market location is near Yankee Stadium, the man blurted out, “Oh, Yankee Stadium? Oh my God!”

 

The woman asked, “What happens if I go over there and I’m late? I’ll be late if I go there now!” The man checked Google Maps which informed him that the trip by car would take 31 minutes.

The man then offered the woman a ride and she accepted. Before getting in the man’s car, the woman said, “This office was convenient because I live around here. Exterior Street is not easy to get to. I don’t even know where it is.”

 

Another man, Angel, from Belmont was later observed looking at his phone upon arrival at the Fordham Road location. Asked if his appointment mentioned Exterior Street, he replied, “Nope.” He then said, “They just changed the address without telling me. I was supposed to come here, and now they’re saying 5 West 125th Street” (in Manhattan).

 

Angel fumed, “This is insane! Why didn’t they tell me they were closing?” When told that the DMV had stated that all DMV business would be conducted at the new site, Angel responded, “No! They’re sending me there” (to Manhattan).

On Oct. 10, an official at the DMV “call center” in Albany told Norwood News, “Sometimes, things don’t move the fastest here.” The official added, “I was made aware today that some people weren’t even certain that this new place existed.”

 

In announcing the new facility, DMV Commissioner Mark Schroeder had said, “The new Bronx Terminal Market location was chosen in part because of its direct access to a public transportation hub, to provide better access to customers with limited transportation options.”

 

Planning a trip on the MTA app from the Fordham Road location to the Exterior Street location gave three options. Option one was the Bx-19 that would take 58 minutes and would include a 15-minute walk. A second option given was the Bx-12-SBS that would take 40 minutes and would include a 19-minute walk. The last option was a transfer from the Bx-12 to the Bx-1 that was estimated to take 46 minutes and would also include a 10-minute walk.

One Tik-Tok video posted by “Lya” on Saturday, Oct. 11, shows a young woman outside the Bronx Terminal Market in which the new DMV office is now located, telling viewers, “Better make your [DMV] appointments before it gets packed!” The video received more than 20,000 likes.

 

The new Bronx District Office of the DMV is located at 610 Exterior Street, sixth floor. The office is open Monday to Friday from 7.30 a.m. until 5 p.m. For more information or to schedule an appointment, visit the department’s website at www.dmv.ny.gov.

 

In October, Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly and New York State Inspector General Lucy Lang announced a 51-count indictment against three DMV employees, the sister of one of the employees, and three applicants, including two Town of Hempstead employees, for engaging in a scheme to cheat on commercial driver’s license (“CDL”) exams and process permits for no-show applicants.